Welcome to ARTISAN ~ Mitch Pileggi Online @ mitchpileggi.org, the largest site dedicated to Mitch on the web. Mitch is best known for his nine years as Assistant Director Walter Skinner in the FOX series THE X-FILES and for his role as Horace Pinker in Wes Craven's SHOCKER as well as his four years on the TNT reboot of DALLAS as the trucking magnate and scoundrel Harrison Ryland. Mitch has also starred in the series SONS OF ANARCHY, STARGATE: ATLANTIS, SUPERNATURAL, MEDIUM, LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT, and the films RECOUNT, FLASH OF GENIUS, and THE X-FILES: FIGHT THE FUTURE & THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE. Included: biography, filmography, photo gallery, a section MItch's wife Arlene, media site, graphics, and a press section. Please feel free to come back often. Thanks for visiting.

Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully reunite to solve cases from the FBI's basement "X-Files" office after a long hiatus. Assisting them is Walter Skinner, their immediate superior as well as trusted confidante and friend.

MITCH PILEGGI ONLINE @ mitchpileggi.org is a website dedicated to the work of American character actor Mitch Pileggi. I am in no way affiliated with his person, his management, nor his family. All content, except otherwise noted, is copyrighted to their original owners and no infringement is intended and no rights implied. Content contained within are subject to fair use and used here either in whole or in part as a commentary on the work and career of Mitch Pileggi.

Yep, you heard it. Chris Carter creator/writer/director/showrunner of THE X-FILES expects to return in the spring to shoot the series eleventh season. So that bodes well for us in terms of more Mitch and more Skinner. Article here:

X-Files creator Chris Carter expects series to return to Vancouver

Production of The X-Files, one of the most notable TV series ever shot in British Columbia, will resume in Vancouver next spring, according to series creator Chris Carter.

The series’ return comes after a revival run of six new episodes produced in B.C. last year, which aired in early 2016.

While there has been speculation that The X-Files would continue following its recent rebirth, Carter offered a timetable in an interview with The Globe and Mail this week.

“I imagine we would be up there shooting in the spring of 2017,” said Carter, who will, this week, be in Vancouver to receive an Industry Builder Award from the Vancouver International Film Festival for his efforts to ensure that production on the recent round of episodes was environmentally sustainable.

He said he expects to do “a small expansion” on the number of episodes in this latest continuation of the milestone show.

His comments came after he confirmed that talks are well-advanced with key players in the series, which pitted FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) against paranormal creatures and conspiracies.

A spokesperson for Carter later noted that talks are under way with Duchovny and Anderson to reprise their roles in the new episodes.

Carter said that continuing the series presents some creative challenges.

“Coming back last year was a trick and coming back again will be another trick,” he said.

“How many years of life are there left in the show? Do you play this as the end? Do you play this as a continuation? There are lots of creative challenges to tackle.”

But Carter said Vancouver will be central to resolving those challenges, as it has been for the life of the series, which originally aired from September, 1993, to May, 2002.

Carter said he began shooting the series in Los Angeles, but was not satisfied with the forests available there. He thought of Vancouver, a city he had visited in 1986 while his wife was producing a Disney movie in B.C.

“I remembered the amazing forests,” he said. So he brought the production north. While the forests helped, Carter says the Vancouver region had more to offer and has been central to the success of the series.

The city, he said, could double as almost anywhere in North America, which was helpful for a series whose FBI characters could find themselves in any U.S. state.

“I even turned a rock quarry in Vancouver into the southwestern U.S. by painting it with so many gallons of red paint you can’t imagine,” he said.

Carter said he has a lot of affection for Vancouver, noting he owned a loft in Gastown for many years and loves to visit. The California native joked about seeking dual citizenship.

Eventually, after five seasons in B.C., production of the show was shifted to Los Angeles. The two leads wanted to go home to the United States after their years in Canada. Not Carter. “I didn’t want to go,” he said, adding he worried about breaking up the “all-star team” of crew that worked on the series.

However, he said Los Angeles allowed access to new locations that would not have been available in B.C., citing, for example, the use of the Queen Mary, the retired British ocean liner that now serves as a tourist attraction in Long Beach, Calif.

“It benefited the storytelling because it forced us to think on our feet and try to reimagine the show,” he said.

Carter said Vancouver, circa 2016, has become one of the world’s leading production centres, with deep technical expertise and actors.

The Vancouver region is central to an ongoing production boom in B.C. that has seen such high-profile films shot in the province as Deadpool and Fifty Shades of Grey, as well as TV series such as The Flash, Arrow and, of course, The X-Files.

“I always tell actors in Canada that if you think you’ve got to be in L.A., don’t kid yourselves: You have so much opportunity to shine and do good work by just sticking around.”

And he said Vancouver is also good for producers. “You can come and just plug right into a serious, capable working environment that has everything you need to make whatever you’re doing, a television show or a movie.”

He said he thinks B.C. has reached a point where it can flourish as a production centre regardless of changes in the Canadian dollar and the provincial tax breaks that many say have made B.C. appealing to producers.

“Those things help, but, as I always tell people, ‘Don’t just go because there’s a savings. Go for the Canadians.’ The work ethic is extremely high and the level of expertise is high as well. It’s a great place to make entertainment. You sacrifice nothing.”

Still, Carter conceded it was never a given that he would get to come back to Vancouver to shoot the last round of episodes. “There was some talk about not coming back, but when all things were considered, everyone agreed that it was the best place to be.”

Asked if he had any advice for policy makers on sustaining Vancouver’s allure to the largely U.S. production sector, he recalled how the series, in 2015, had to go to the Kamloops area to find a desert-like landscape needed for a sequence depicting a UFO crash.

“If you could plant a desert there, within the zone there, in Vancouver, that’s the one thing that Vancouver lacks,” he quipped.

Some new events from the summer for you. One was back in July where Mitch along with THE X-FILES co-stars David Duchovny (Fox Mulder), Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully), and William B. Davis (Cancer Man) attended the Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago. Then the other was from August where Mitch attended the Wizard World Comic Con in Columbus, Ohio where he celebrated the Heroes Honouring Heroes. Looked like there was a lot of Captain America stuff going around there. Mitch is shown holding Cap’s shield. Enjoy.

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There’s been some information come out about the possibility of a continuation of THE X-FILES. Deadline has an article out detailing what is happening behind the scenes. I’m sure that Mitch will be back as The Skinman due mostly in part with something that creator/showrunner Chris Carter has said before in the past about Skinner being the third leg in the tripod between Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder (David Duchovny). The sticking points here are geographical as Gillian lives in England and David is splitting his time between California and New York, and of course Mitch lives in Texas…..

‘The X-Files’ New Season Update: “Significant Talks” Underway – TCA

The six-episode new season of The X Files was one of the best performing Fox series last season, especially on-demand. Ever since the reboot launched, Fox executives have been trying to secure more episodes.

“We would love to do other seasons,” Fox Entertainment president David Madden said at TCA Monday. “There are significant talks with all three principals”, creator Chris Carter and stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. “We are working hard, and would like to get a new season soon.”

Fox TV Group chairman Dana Walden admitted that Fox wanted to do more than 6 episodes in the recent revival. “We would have liked to do more in the first place, but there were limitations,” she said. “Gillian lives in the U.K. David in New York and Los Angeles. The show shoots in Vancouver. So it’s about coordinating a time when they can carve time to be in Vancouver.”

Another abbreviated season is what Fox is looking at realistically. “We’re in conversations where we can do more,” Walden said. “I don’t see a full season of episodes, but I’d be happy to get 10 or 8 episodes.”

Madden and Walden were asked whether the network would want to make creative changes for a new season of The X-Files since the recent one was met with mixed reviews. “I actually think the season was strong,” Madden said. “The episodes represent Chris and his team’s vision, and we will take our cue from them.” ‘

Added Walden, “The show was off the air for a very long time. It was introduced to new viewers, and (the writers) had the challenge of filling in the mythology. Going forward, there won’t be the same obligation to reset the series.”

I have two new events added to the gallery of Mitch from June. Here he attends the Wizard World Convention in Philadelphia. Mitch attended with his fellow THE X-FILES stars David Duchovny (Fox Mulder) and William B. Davis (Cancer Man). The event covered two days.

Mitch will be making an appearance at Wizard World in Illinois in August. Also with Mitch will be his THE X-FILES co-stars Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully), David Duchovny (Fox Mulder) and William B. Davis (Cancer Man). For more information and to book tickets, click on the banner below.